


one of seven tigers

by poalimal



Series: WIP Amnesty [13]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Generic Fantasy Manga Setting, Dubious Consent, Euphemisms, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 22:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18214700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: The space between us... was not always so great.





	one of seven tigers

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the works of the ever amazing Kui Ryoko, specifically _The Dragon's Seven Adorable Children_. One of the original ideas of this fic was to pass through 7 different stories of how this god (Chris's character) and this human (Derek's character) continually found each other through the centuries and fell in love, names and personalities changing until their identities became more recognisable to us. 
> 
> Instead, here's this!

 

Once, long ago, there lived among the queenfolk a kind and valiant prince. He was a friend to the humans that lived on in the land on the very edge of Kingdom-Come, in a little town known as Torqin. And the Prince often coaxed dragons and lions and otherlies back to the realm of Kingdom-Come. This was unusual even in those days, for queenfolk were more likely to hunt humans down than they were to protect them.

But the prince was not this way. He did not hunt down anything, not even when he was in his tigerskin. In fact, he would wander about Torqin as a tiger sometimes, and bless the townspeople with a kiss, granting them luck and wisdom and even long life.

Yes, the humans of Torqin loved the Prince dearly in those days. But the Prince's mother, the King of all queenfolk, strongly disapproved.

Now it came to pass that, on account of being blessed by the Prince, and as a result of their proximity to Kingdom-Come, the townspeople over the years picked up a bit of magic. And this bit of magic they passed onto their children. And these children would grow up, be blessed, and have children of their own, who would they themselves be blessed by the Prince once they'd grown up... On and on this went, until the people of Torqin became quite powerful.

And as their power grew, so too did their greed. And they spoke among themselves, saying:

'We are not foolish like our forebears. We are not content with one kiss from the tiger prince. Look around! The world is changing, despite what the queenfolk think. Our town will be wiped off the map if we do not change with it. We must make a name for ourselves if we do not want to disappear.

'And how better to do that than to steal the skin off the tiger's back! Yes, this is what we will do - this will give us the power we seek.'

And so they sent their bravest and most valiant man, Anden the Mighty, up into the mountains. There the Prince spent each spring, resting in the house that had been built for him by human hands. And indeed, when Anden came to him, the Prince was dozing in his bedchambers, his tigerskin swung carelessly on the side of the bed.

'Prepare yourself, beast,' said Anden, readying himself to pull his sword free, 'for I shall feast upon your flesh this night!'

The Prince woke as if from a dream, still blinking stars down from his eyes. And Anden's heart melted within him at the sight. He remembered the warmth of the tiger where it had kissed his brow so many years ago; the way the blessing had come over him gradually, like a warm summer rain; the twinkle in the Prince's eyes as he had darted away. How Anden had wanted to run after him!

And Anden knew, then, that he could not slay him. And he threw his sword to the side with the filth of his heart.

'My lord, how I rue the day I was born!' said Anden. And he threw himself to the floor at the foot of the Prince's massive bed. The Prince stared down at him in shock: for even he had forgotten that these beasts could speak.

'What is it you do here?' asked the Prince.

And Anden said, 'I and the townspeople came up with a wicked plan to slay you while you slept, and steal your tigerskin for our own.'

The Prince was thunderstruck. 'How could you do this thing?' he said. 'Have I not protected your town and all its people for all of my days? And you said you shall feast on my flesh? No!' And he pulled on his tigerskin and bared his great teeth. 'It is I who shall feast upon you!'

Anden lowered his head and accepted his fate. 'Eat of me well, then, my lord - only spare the others.'

'Very well,' agreed the Prince, watching him with molten eyes. 'I will eat of you and you alone.'

But though the Prince said this, he made no move toward him. Anden recalled that the Prince came only rarely to their town, and spent most of his time in the wood at the bottom of the mountain, driving the otherlies from that place; and here up in his mountain, he spent all of his springs alone.

And Anden felt very tenderly towards the Prince. 'You have not eaten flesh in some time, have you, my lord? Look, cut here first,' he said, gesturing to his thigh, 'for the meat is fine and thick.'

The Prince snarled so loudly the whole mountain shook, and he knocked Anden down into his bed. Anden, unthinking, grabbed at the Prince for balance; and he tugged down the tigerskin till it pooled to the floor, leaving only flesh behind.

And what flesh there was to see! Anden stared so hard his eyes and mouth went dry as desert bone. The Prince knocked his head against Anden's and bent his mouth to his lips. And Anden shuddered mightily.

'I,' said the Prince, 'will eat you as I please!'

And the Prince took Anden from this world to his summer palace in Kingdom-Come. There he ate of Anden's flesh endlessly, without ever reaching his fill. And it was some time before Anden rolled away from his grasp.

'My lord,' said Anden, bowing before him, 'I must thank you for granting me mercy and showing me delight. My heart will never forget the joys we have shared. But now I must return to my little town, and tell the others the kindness you have shown me. And together we will come up with a better plan for the future, one that honours the goodness you have shown my people.'

The Prince knocked Anden down against their pillows, and he cried many tigerish tears over him. 'Oh, my own, must you go?' He nuzzled his great head against Anden's chest. 'Can you not stay here with me? There are so many more wonders and delights than what you have seen here.'

'I have seen all the wonder my human heart can possibly hold,' said Anden, 'staring only at your face.' And he fell on the Prince's neck weeping.

The two of them shared many tears that night. And in the morning, the Prince took Anden back to the human realm, down onto his mountain. And having hardened his heart, he left him there without a word.

Anden saw then that the Prince's spring house lay empty and desolate, overcome by weeds and filth and otherlies. Anden's sword still lay there in the dust, and he took it up and cleaned it. And though it was dull he used it to frighten the otherlies away.

But what he saw troubled him greatly. 'Is this the work of but a few short nights?' he wondered. For time does not pass in Kingdom-Come as it does here, and Anden thought he had been gone for only a few days.

But as Anden went down the mountain, he saw that all the world seemed changed. The paths were unkempt and overgrown, the birdsong unfamiliar, the trees tall and long forbidding. And though he walked all the way from one end of the wood to the other without tiring, he never reached Torqin.

Finally a spirit from the trees called to him. 'You, there! What do you do here, stomping to and fro and keeping us all awake?'

'I am sorry, sister, I do not mean to disturb you,' said Anden. To him it did not seem strange to speak to the spirits. 'I am looking for Torqin, but I fear I must have gotten lost somehow.'

'Torqin?' said the spirit.

'Torqin?' said another spirit.

'Wicked Torqin!' said yet another spirit. 'The King destroyed that town centuries ago! The humans ate the flesh of otherlies and became in-between-things, incapable of form or reason. Have you been so deep in Kingdom-Come, brother, that you did not know? Oh, oh! Are you well?'

For Anden the Mighty had fallen to his feet in shock, and he would not be moved. And they say he stayed so long in that place that he gave himself over to the spirits of the tree in mourning.

This is why there can be no solid accord, no lasting peace between our people and the queenfolk. Our ways are too different, their realm is much too wild. Let them keep to their realm, and let us keep to ours.

So let it be spoken; so let it be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone sat quiet in the bitterwarm glow of a story well-ent. Even Maros was silent, head down in her arms, as she did whenever she was listening closely - in between drinks.
> 
> Then the stranger Daran leaned forward, a strange gleam in his eye, and he said: 'that was poorly told.'
> 
> The Weaver blinked. 'I beg your pardon?'
> 
> 'Well, the worldweaving was pretty enough, and I feel like I did understand Anden and the Prince, and I liked them,' said Daran. 'But the motivations of the townspeople were totally unclear. For them to eat the flesh of otherlies-- why, it sounds as though they were desperate! And why was the character of the King almost wholly underwoven? She destroys Anden's town, but we barely understand why.
> 
> 'And what really doesn't make sense to me,' he continued, ignoring the grumbling around him, 'is your ending for Anden. It was so abrupt, so unearned! How mighty could he be, really, if he had just one conversation with some trees and then died?'
> 
> 'He died of a broken heart!' said the Weaver's companion hotly. 'Not that you'd know anything about that. Seeing as you don't have one!' 
> 
> A murmur went through the bar. Daran sat back in his seat, and he smiled. 
> 
> 'Hush now, Iandi!' said the Weaver. 'You mustn't repeat such things.'
> 
> Daran held up a hand. 'Peace, Weaver - I know well enough what is said of me. And I know what the custom is these days, to speak so of the Kingdom and its queenfolk, now that war grows between us. But we cannot project our eyes onto the past in this way. Come, it was not always hatred and malice between our peoples. 
> 
> 'Listen now:
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  


End file.
